Wireless communication device providing a contactless interface for a smart card reader

ABSTRACT

A wireless terminal ( 30 ) including a smart card application host ( 34 ), such as a contact smart card or the terminal or a terminal security component, and including a terminal interface ( 32 ), and also including a smart card router ( 33 ) that enables RF communication with a contactless card reader ( 35 ) in for example a ticketing system ( 31 ), even though the smart card application host ( 34 ) does not contain a contactless interface. The smart card router ( 33 ) includes an RF antenna ( 33   c ), separate from and external to the smart card application host ( 34 ), and also a modulator/demodulator ( 33   b ), and also includes a card access module and router ( 33   a ) for routing communication traffic (R in ) arriving via the RF antenna ( 33   c ) to either the smart card application host ( 34 ) or to the terminal interface ( 32 ), based on information included in the arriving communication traffic (R in ).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to wireless communication, and moreparticularly to the use of smart cards and security components andsecurity chips in wireless communication devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A smart card is a memory and/or microprocessor chip embedded in aplastic card for easy carrying and usage, most commonly as a smart cardbased payment card (such as a Eurocard-Mastercard-Visa (EMV) card or aso-called e-purse) or as a subscriber identity module (SIM) card inwireless terminals, such as in the Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM). A microprocessor chip of a smart card also oftencontains advanced security features that protect the data in the memory.Smart cards with only memory are called memory cards; smart cards with amicroprocessor chip and memory are called microprocessor cards. A memorycard stores data but cannot manipulate the data, and can be consideredsimilar to a floppy disk, except that such a card also includes securityfeatures such as authenticated access to memory and copy protection ofmemory contents against unauthorized access. A microprocessor card canadd, delete, and otherwise manipulate information in a memory on thecard, and is like a miniature computer, having an input and output port,an operating system, and persistent memory (such as a hard disk or othernon-volatile memory device), but with built-in security features.Microprocessor card functionality is defined by and can be changed withsoftware applications that are installed to card.

Smart cards have two different types of interfaces: contact interfacesand contactless interfaces, otherwise known as radiofrequency (RF)interfaces. A contact smart card must be inserted into a contact cardreader to interface with other systems. For example, a smart card canhold in memory either an indication of funds from which a ticket can bepurchased from a ticketing system, or can hold in memory an indicationof a number of tickets already paid for and not yet used, in which casethe smart card interfaces with the ticketing system to use a ticket. Ineither case, the ticketing system would read the memory of the smartcard to determine the current balance (of either funds or tickets notalready used), subtract either the price of a ticket or reduce thenumber of tickets by one, and write the new balance to the memory.

When using a contact smart card, the contact card reader (of for examplea ticketing system) makes contact with electrical connectors on the card(leading to the chip) and via the connectors, transfers data to and fromthe chip (memory on the chip). Contactless smart cards are passed near acontactless card reader, having an antenna and RF module on the card, inorder to carry out a transaction (such as using a ticket as above).Contactless cards are preferable in cases where transactions must beprocessed quickly, as in mass transit or toll collection, or where thereader needs high availability as RF reading does not wear outelectrical contacts or mechanical elements of a reader.

Some cards include only one or another of the two kinds of interfaces,and some, called dual interface cards, include both kinds.

In wireless communications via a cellular communications network, suchas provided by the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), smartcards called SIM (subscriber identity module) cards, which aremicroprocessor smart cards, provide secure user authentication, secureroaming, and a platform for value-added services. The SIM card (i.e. themicroprocessor on the SIM card) can be programmed to carry multipleapplications, such as a credit card applications (to allow debits andcredits to a credit card account, or a ticketing application, to allowbuying tickets). In such a case, the SIM card should act as acontactless (memory or microprocessor) smart card, communicating withfor example a ticketing system via RF communications according to ISO(international standards organization) 14443 (as opposed to RF forcellular communications, as for example for communicating with a radioaccess network of GSM). The activation of new applications can bedownloaded to the card over the air, in real time, via the cellularcommunication network. Some wireless communication devices today alsoinclude contact and/or contactless (memory or microprocessor) smartcards that are distinct from the SIM card.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a prior art mobile terminal 10 including adual-interface smart card 14 (which may be a SIM, or may be another,distinct smart card) having a contact interface 14 a and a contactlessinterface 14 b, and shows the smart card communicating with a ticketingsystem 11 via its contactless interface (the ticketing system includinga contactless card reader 15 and a back end, i.e. the rest of theticketing system after the card reader), and also communicating with aterminal interface module 12 of the mobile terminal 10 via the contactinterface (the terminal interface including a contact card reader 12 a).FIG. 2 shows the contact interface 14 b of the smart card 14 of FIG. 1in more detail, and indicates the antenna used to provide thecontactless interface 14 b. In all the contactless smart cards accordingto the prior art, an antenna per ISO standard 14443, is embedded in thecard, and when such a card is enclosed in a cellular communicationdevice, the antenna must be moved to the outside of the device. ISOstandard series 7816-X governs all aspects of the smart card and itscontact interface, including (in 7816-4) common format of commands andbasic commands and responses to include the application protocol dataunit (the command exchange format independent the transport protocol).

In FIG. 1, the smart card 14 might host a ticketing application (inwhich case the card is a microprocessor smart card) or might hold onlyticket data (so that the card could then be a simple memory card). Incase the smart card 14 hosts a ticketing application, in order topurchase a ticket (for example to get on a bus or a subway), theticketing application interacts with the ticketing system 11 and isauthenticated, and then the ticketing application deducts the cost ofthe ticket from the balance of a ticket account stored in the smart cardapplication. In case of a memory card, the memory holding a ticketaccount is read by the ticketing system 11 and the ticketing system thenre-writes the balance in the ticket account reduced by the cost of theticket. In either case, since the smart card reader of the ticketingapplication is a contactless reader, the mobile terminal 10 in which thesmart card 14 resides, is waved (swiped) near to the card reader of theticketing system so as to prompt the card reader and thereby initiatethe ticket-purchase (or use) transaction as described above. The smartcard 14 might be the SIM card of the mobile terminal 10, or it might beanother smart card. The smart card 14 is a dual-interface card, havingboth a contact interface 14 a and a contactless interface 14 b, to allowfor downloading, via the cellular network and then via the contactinterface, new tokens (for purchasing tickets) or otherticket-purchasing funds. In addition, the contact interface can be usedto allow a user of the mobile terminal to browse the memory of the smartcard, for example to determine the number of tokens left in the ticketaccount.

The smart card 14 is controlled, via either interface 14 a 14 b, withso-called APDU (Application Protocol Data Units) commands, defined inISO standard 7816-4 or defined for the application in separatespecifications. (ISO standard 7816-4 defines the common format and somecommon commands, but there is a separate specification for smart cardcredit cards that defines a set of commands for such smart cards, andthe same is true for GSM SIM smart cards.) RF access to smart cards isdefined in multiple ISO standards, but especially ISO standard 14443,mentioned above. Also, the terminology APDU is used here both in thesmart card specific sense of ISO standard 7816-4, and also, when used torefer to communication traffic not intended for the smart card,according to other standards. For example, communication trafficdestined for the wireless terminal MCU (microcontroller unit) is in theform of APDUs, although not the same APDUs as defined for smart cards,and is nonetheless indicated simply as APDUs in the description thatfollows.

As also mentioned above, putting a smart card with a contactlessinterface into a mobile terminal requires moving the antenna for thecard to the outside of the mobile terminal (otherwise, the mobileterminal casing will block the RF signals to and from the smart card).When the antenna is taken out of the smart card, the smart card becomesnonstandard (i.e. it must be made specially); in addition, the antennamust be tuned to the card chip hardware resistance and impedance, andfor different chip models and manufacturers the tuning would bedifferent, making it difficult to use an antenna for a smart cardlocated off-card.

Embedding a dual-interface smart card in a mobile terminal is alsoproblematic in case of transactions requiring user interaction, such asthose in which the user must give a PIN to authorize a payment via thesmart card, since then the dual interface card must communicate throughboth interfaces during the same transaction, or the ticketing systemmust have a separate communication path to the card and to the terminalinterface of the mobile terminal. Allowing for communication throughboth interfaces is complex; at the point when user interaction isneeded, the card application must wake up the mobile terminal to showthe display text and ask for input, and the wake up requires aninterrupt from the card (or else the mobile terminal must ask the cardrepeatedly whether the card needs any mobile terminal services).Proposals have been made where the ticketing system (instead of thesmart card) communicates with the mobile terminal to prompt for a PIN,but these proposals make the ticketing system more complex andexpensive.

What is needed is a way to include in a mobile terminal or otherwireless terminal (e.g. a personal computer), a smart card, i.e. amemory or microprocessor smart card providing a smart card application(and so in addition to the functionality provided by a SIM card), thatdoes not suffer from the above mentioned difficulties, such as thedifficulty in making possible communicating with a user during atransaction involving the smart card, or providing a contactlessinterface (i.e. an RF antenna per ISO 14443), and ideally a way thatallows using a standard smart card (as opposed to a dual-interface smartcard with the antenna moved off-card).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, in a first aspect of the invention, a wireless terminal isprovided having a terminal interface, characterized in that the wirelessterminal includes a smart card application host and also a smart cardrouter, the smart card router responsive to radiofrequency (RF)communication signal issuing from a contactless smart card reader, fordemodulating the RF communication signal and providing either ademodulated communication traffic signal routed to the smart cardapplication host or a demodulated communication traffic signal routed tothe terminal interface, the routing determined based on informationconveyed by the RF communication signal.

In accord with the first aspect of the invention, the smart cardapplication host may be either a contact smart card, a microcontrollerresiding in the wireless terminal, or a security component of thewireless terminal.

Also in accord with the first aspect of the invention, the smart cardrouter may also be responsive to unmodulated communication trafficprovided by the smart card application host and may also be responsiveto unmodulated communication traffic provided by the terminal interface,and in response to either may provide a modulated communication trafficsignal for transmission to the contactless smart card reader. Further,the smart card router may comprise a card access module and router, amodulator/demodulator, an RF antenna, and a card reader chip, with thecard access module and router coupled to the smart card application hostvia the card reader chip, and coupled to the terminal interface, andalso coupled to the RF antenna via the modulator/demodulator, the RFantenna in turn radiatively coupled to the ticketing system.

Still also in accord with the first aspect of the invention, the smartcard router provides logical channels for communication with differentapplications hosted by the smart card application host.

Yet still also in accord with the first aspect of the invention, instarting communications with the contactless smart card reader, thewireless terminal may report RF parameter messages in a formatunderstandable to the contactless smart card reader so as to enable thecommunications, and further, the RF parameters so reported may indicateproprietary capabilities of the smart card application host. Alsofurther, the RF parameters may be derived from data provided by ananswer-to-reset message issued by the smart card application host.

In a second aspect of the invention, a method is provided for use by awireless terminal in communicating with a contactless smart card reader,the wireless terminal including a smart card application host hosting atleast one smart card application, the method characterized by: a step ofreceiving from the contactless smart card reader an RF communicationsignal pertinent to the at least one smart card application; a step ofexamining the received communication signal to determine where to routeit, including possibly routing the communication signal to the at leastone smart card application or to a terminal interface of the wirelessterminal or to an RF antenna for radiative transmission to a systemrelated to the at least one smart card application; and a step ofrouting the communication signal to the destination so determined.

In accord with the second aspect of the invention, the smart cardapplication host may be either a contact smart card, a microcontrollerresiding in the wireless terminal, or a security component of thewireless terminal.

Also in accord with the second aspect of the invention, in routing thecommunication signal, logical channels may be used for communicationwith different applications hosted by the smart card application host.

Also in accord with the second aspect of the invention, in startingcommunications with the contactless smart card reader, the wirelessterminal may report RF parameter messages in a format understandable tothe contactless smart card reader so as to enable the communications.Further, the RF parameters so reported may indicate proprietarycapabilities of the smart card application host. Also further, the RFparameters may be derived from data provided by an answer-to-resetmessage issued by the smart card application host.

With the invention, the antenna and RF circuitry are part of the mobileterminal and thus always tuned, and the smart card is a standard contactcard (not a smart card with the antenna of the contactless interfacemoved off-card). With the arrangement provided by the invention, it ispossible to use a SIM card or other, separate smart card distinct fromthe SIM card, to host smart card applications (or memory associated withapplications). Smart cards come from many manufacturers even for asingle operator, but as the tuning is not dependent on the card used,the many different kinds of chips and cards that might be used presentsno problem.

Another advantage of the invention is that the need for user input canbe detected from the message flow between the smart card application anda ticketing system (or other system with a card reader for interactingwith the smart card) so that the wireless terminal can automatically askfor the user input (for a PIN for example) and pass the input to thesmart card. It is also possible according to the invention for theticketing system to command the wireless terminal directly (as opposedto having the wireless terminal monitor the communication trafficbetween the smart card and the ticketing system), and to have thecommand to the wireless terminal pass along the same RF communicationspath as communication traffic for the card; no separate RF communicationpath is needed between the ticketing system and the wireless terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the inventionwill become apparent from a consideration of the subsequent detaileddescription presented in connection with accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal hosting a smart card andhaving a terminal interface to the smart card, according to the priorart;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail the smart card ofFIG. 1 and the terminal interface;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal hosting a smart card andhaving a terminal interface to the smart card, according to theinvention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail the smart card ofFIG. 2 and the terminal interface;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal hosting a smart card andhaving a terminal interface to the smart card and using logicalchannels, according to the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the method of communication between a wirelessterminal and a smart card reader, according to the invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The invention, a smart card in a mobile terminal adapted to provide acontactless interface for the smart card, will now be described in caseof the smart card being distinct from the SIM card of the wirelessterminal and providing a single application, buying a ticket from aticketing system, such as a ticket to board a bus, using funds kept inan account on the smart card. It should be understood however, that theinvention is not in any way limited to any particular application, noris it limited to having an application hosted by a smart card distinctfrom the SIM card, nor it is limited to a single-application smart card.The invention is of use whenever a smart card application interfacingwith a contactless smart card reader (via RF per ISO standard 14443 orother RF standard for smart cards, ISO 15639 or legacy low frequencyRF-interfaces and future standards for contactless smart card usage) isto be provided by a wireless terminal. In the description provided here,ISO standard 14443 is used, but other standards might be used just aswell.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a mobile terminal 30 (or any kind of wirelessterminal, not necessarily mobile) having a terminal interface 32 isadapted according to the invention to include a contact smart card 34having only a contact interface 34 a (FIG. 4) by including in the mobileterminal a smart card router 33, which simulates a contactless interfaceto the contact smart card. With the smart card router, the mobileterminal 30 is able to be used to, for example, purchase a ticket (aticket for example for a bus ride) from a ticketing system 31 (hostedfor example by a processor onboard the bus) by communicating with theticketing system via a standard contactless card reader 35 provided aspart of the ticketing system. The same exact ticketing system 31 wouldinterface with a standard contactless smart card in the exact same wayas it interfaces with the mobile terminal 30, i.e. the contactlessinterface simulated by the mobile terminal makes the mobile terminal 30appear to the standard contactless card reader 35 of the ticketingsystem 31 to be a standard contactless smart card.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the smart card router 33 and the contact smartcard 34 are shown in more detail. The smart card router 33 includes acard access module and router 33 a coupled to the terminal interface 32(via the operating system, not shown, of the mobile terminal), coupledto the contact smart card 34 via a card reader chip 33 d, and coupled tothe ticketing system 31 via a modulator/demodulator 33 b and an RFantenna 33 c. For interfacing with the ticketing system 31, the RFantenna 33 c sends and receives over the air interface communicationtraffic, indicated as RF in air in FIG. 3, that is in essence a seriesof APDUs modulating an RF carrier according to ISO standard 14443. TheRF antenna (which includes associated circuitry, not shown expressly,for amplifying and filtering the RF signals being communicated over theair interface) sends to and receives from the modulator/demodulator 33 bguided RF signals, essentially the same RF signals as sent and receivedover the air interface, but communicated via a wireline, i.e. an RFwaveguide. The modulator/demodulator 33 b sends to the card accessmodule 33 a R_(in) signals, which are APDUs it extracts from incoming RFsignals (guided RF signals). The modulator/demodulator 33 b receivesfrom the card access module 33 a R_(out) signals, APDUs to be used tomodulate an RF carrier and then to be transmitted to the ticketingsystem 31.

The card access module and router 33 a communicates APDU signals to thedifferent modules to which it is coupled, namely the terminal interface32, the modulator/demodulator 33 b (as already mentioned), and the cardreader chip 33 d. Any APDU arriving at the card access module and router33 a and intended for the terminal interface, no matter what its origin,is routed to the terminal interface as a U_(in) signal (an APDU). AnyAPDU intended for the contact smart card 34 is routed to the card readerchip 33 d as a C_(in) signal (an APDU), which then provides it to thecontact smart card 34 as an S_(in) signal (an APDU) over the I/Oconnection to the contact interface 34 a of the contact smart card. AnyAPDU intended for the RF antenna 33 b is routed to themodulator/demodulator as an R_(out) signal (an APDU), which thenprovides it to the RF antenna as guide RF. Signals arriving at the cardaccess module and router 33 a include U_(out) signals (APDUs) from theuser interface 32, C_(out) signals (APDUs) from the card reader chip 33d (and so ultimately from the contact smart card 34 as S_(out) signals),and R_(in) signals (APDUs) already mentioned. The router function isperformed by the card access module and router 33 a inspecting eacharriving APDU header, and discerning from the header the intendedrecipient. It is expected that new protocols will be developedaccommodating routing so that for example the ticketing system willindicate over RF that messages to follow, or messages with certainprotocol headers or IDs, are to go to destination specified by theticketing system, such as to the terminal interface (for delivery to theuser interface) or to the smart card.

Thus, with the router functionality of the smart card router 33 asdescribed above, the mobile terminal 30 can be used to purchase a ticketfrom the ticketing system 31 (having the contactless card reader 35) inessentially the same way as a contactless smart card would be used, but,in addition, a user of the mobile terminal can query the contact smartcard 33 included in the mobile terminal to determine the amount of funds(possibly in the form of tokens). If the smart card allows purchase ofadditional tokens as part of the same application used to buy tickets,then the user can add to the account balance by either using theterminal interface 32 to interface with the ticketing system 34 sellingthe tickets, if the ticketing system allows such a transaction (the newfunds then being provided to the smart card via signals from theticketing system 31 to the smart card 34 via the card access module androuter 33 a), or by communicating with a ticketing system controller(not shown) via a radio access network (not shown) and then downloadingcommands for incrementing the account balance on the smart card 34, thecommands arriving at the card access module and router 33 a via theterminal interface 32 and then being routed to the contact smart card34.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the invention is shown as a mobile terminal 30adapted to include a multi-application contact smart card 34, having afirst application 34-1, such as for buying bus tickets, and a secondapplication 34-2, such as for buying train tickets, and communicatingwith a system 1 and a system 2 respectively, over respective logicalchannels Ch1 and Ch2, and also being accessed via a terminal interface32 using logical channel Ch1 (so that the terminal interface iscommunicating with the first application 34-1 on the smart card). As inFIG. 3, the smart card is a contact smart card, and does not include acontactless interface; the smart card router 33 simulates a contactlessinterface. Just like the mobile terminal of FIGS. 3 and 4, the mobileterminal 30 of FIG. 5 can be used as if it were a contactless smart card(although it in fact includes only a contact smart card), and the smartcard can be accessed both by one of the external systems 31 a 31 b andvia the terminal interface 32 concurrently, but in addition, the smartcard can also be accessed by the other of the external systems 31 a 31 bat the same time as it is being accessed via the terminal interface 32and the other of the external systems 31 a 31 b. Whether for concurrentor single access, the smart card router 33 provides logical channels tothe different applications 34-1 34-2 on the smart card 34, and, ideally,does so in a way that is transparent to the card readers of therespective applications 34-1 34-2 (since the readers now assume thatthere is only one application in use on a smart card, and it would bepreferable not to have to alter the readers to take into account thatlogical channels are being used to accommodate having more than oneapplication on a smart card). In embodiments where only a single contactinterface is used for multiple applications, additional applications canbe downloaded to the smart card and the smart card router 33 can beconfigured to provide further logical channels. Logical channels arecreated separately, as needed, by the smart card, so for example thecard may have one application running and then the wireless terminal(i.e., more specifically, the smart card router) receives acommunication for another application and asks the card for a logicalchannel for use for communication with the other application; the cardthen responds with a logical channel identifier for communication withthe other application. A channel identifier for each APDU is indicatedin the header of the APDU, and it the card uses the channel identifierso indicated to direct the APDU to the correct application. In case auser of the wireless terminal wishes to interface with one of theapplications (or simply the memory of one of the applications), the userindicates which application and the smart card router uses the logicalchannel assigned to the application to deliver communication trafficfrom the user (i.e. the user interface of the wireless terminal) to theindicated application. In case the user, via the user interface, wishesto communicate with one or another of the external systems 31 a 31 b(e.g. a bus ticketing system), the user so indicates via the userinterface and the smart card router directs communications to theindicated system (and creates a logical channel for such communication,as needed).

The invention can be implemented with much of the current technologyunchanged. Existing contactless card readers in ticketing systems (or inother kinds of systems that communicate with smart card applications) donot need to be changed to work with a multi-application smart card in amobile terminal according to the invention, and the applications caneven be put on the SIM card of the wireless terminal. The SIMapplication itself (providing the subscriber identification to the radioaccess network) is always on, but with the invention, and in particularbecause of its use of logical channels, RF communications with acontactless card reader are provided without making any changes to thesystem hosting the contactless card reader. Specifications for accessingmulti-application cards and for selecting, using, installing new anddeleting applications on the cards are now defined and complete, and areestablished in the marketplace.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the routing process of the smart card router33, and more particularly of the card access module and router 33 a, isshown as including a first step 61 of receiving a communication signalconcerning a smart card application, a communication signal which istypically an APDU per one or another protocol, followed by a next step62 of examining the received communication signal to determine where toroute it (either to the terminal interface 31, or to the smart card 34,or to one or another of a particular application 34-1 34-2 on amulti-application smart card 34, or to the contactless card reader 35 ofan application system facility 31 a 31 b), and preferably examining theheader of each APDU, followed by a step 63 of routing the communicationsignal to the destination so determined.

As the communication to a smart card is directed to only one interfaceaccording to the invention, namely the contact interface, the smartcard, a standard contact smart card, is simpler and cheaper than thesmart card in a mobile terminal according to the prior art, i.e. adual-interface card with the antenna moved off-card. RF communicationrequirements are such that smart cards are restricted to small memoriesand low processing power, but a smart card in a mobile terminalaccording to the invention does not, by itself, communicate via RF, andso can have a larger memory and more processing power, even though RFaccess to the card is the same as in the prior art as far as a ticketingsystem is concerned (i.e. the fact that the RF communication is providedby off-card modules is transparent to the ticketing system).

With a mobile terminal having a terminal interface (including a userinterface) and adapted to include a contact smart card according to theinvention, the card operating system does not need to be changed toallow for concurrent access by a ticketing system (for example) and theterminal interface, since, as shown in FIG. 3, all access is routedthrough the contact interface (the only on-card interface) of the card.Thus, with the invention, a user is able to browse the content of thecard memory while the card is being used to purchase a ticket using thestandard operating system of the standard contact smart card.

Since with the invention a contactless interface is simulated (by thesmart card router 33) off-card (including the power for the RFcommunications), enough resources of the smart card are freed to make itsuitable for use as a multi-application smart card, containing differentapplications, possibly from different companies, and for providing thesecurity required for each application (which requires substantialprocessing resources).

The invention requires that a mobile terminal be adapted by providingadditional hardware and software. The antenna loop used in simulating acontactless interface requires additional hardware, as in current RFsmart cards, or it may use terminal DSP (digital signal processing)resources to do the modulation (e.g. the modulation for GSM or othermodulation) making the additional hardware cost smaller. Logical channelusage to access the smart card from mobile terminal applications is mostnaturally provided using software, as is user interface support.

Smart card APDU command software is already present in mobile terminals(to provide SIM usage), and it can be used, possibly with modifications,further reducing the costs.

In respect to reporting communication parameters to a contactless cardreader mentioned above, a mobile terminal adapted according to theinvention to include a contact smart card, appears to the outside worldto provide a contactless smart card. When a contactless smart card isfirst presented to a card reader (i.e. when it is “swiped” before acontactless card reader), it communication parameters to the reader.With the invention, the parameter reporting is done by the mobileterminal, not the smart card. The smart card cannot itself report RFcommunication parameters, because it is a normal contact smart card. Themobile terminal reports its communication parameters according to itsinternal RF implementation. Since application command usage is notdependent on the communication parameters, it is possible to “fake” thecommunication parameters on behalf of the card to make the RFcommunications possible (i.e. to provide communication parameters for astandard contactless smart card and so appear to the contactless cardreader as a standard contactless card, even though the terminal is doingthe RF communication, not a standard contactless smart card). At thestart of communications with a contactless card reader 35 (FIG. 3), thewireless terminal 30 reports the RF communication parameters in amessage in a format understandable to the contactless smart card reader35 and so enables communication with the card reader. The RF parametersso reported are possibly for proprietary capabilities of the smart card34, and in the preferred embodiment are derived from data provided overthe input/output line (see FIG. 3) of the smart card 34 in ananswer-to-reset message issued by the smart card 34 (in answer to areset signal).

The invention also comprehends embodiments in which the smart cardapplication resides not on the smart card but in terminal memory(usually only for low-security applications) or inside the terminalmicroprocessor (for high-security applications), which has securityfeatures. Increasingly computing devices, such as PDAs and mobileterminals, are equipped with security components and ASICs (applicationspecific integrated circuits) for encrypted and secured communicationsand for security sensitive applications running on the devicemicroprocessor. In order to utilize these components also forradio-communication based transactions, such as ticketing as describedabove, the devices need to be enhanced with wireless communicationcapability compatible with existing smart card based systems. Thesesecurity components are often an integral part of the terminalmicroprocessor, and thus need a separate RF-communication capability.

Along this same line, the invention also comprehends routing messages tothe SIM smart card or to a secondary smart card (i.e. a card separatefrom the SIM smart card) or to terminal memory or to the terminalmicroprocessor to support multiple locations for applications.

The RF antenna 33 c (FIG. 3) and RF modulation/demodulation module 33 bneed not be integral with the wireless terminal, but can be provided asa terminal accessory or provided as part of an existing accessory (suchas the phone cover which is a suitable place for the RF antenna 33 c).The accessory can then route communication for a smart card applicationto the card access module and router 33 a for routing to the smart cardapplication, wherever it is located.

SCOPE OF THE INVENTION

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are onlyillustrative of the application of the principles of the presentinvention. Numerous modifications and alternative arrangements may bedevised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope ofthe present invention, and the appended claims are intended to coversuch modifications and arrangements.

1. A mobile cellular terminal including a cellular telephonefunctionality for communication via a cellular communication network andhaving a terminal interface (32), characterized in that the mobilecellular terminal includes a smart card application host (34) and also asmart card router (33), the smart card router (33) responsive to aradiofrequency (RF) communication signal (RF in air) issuing from acontactless smart card reader (35), for demodulating the RFcommunication signal (RF in air) and providing either a demodulatedcommunication traffic signal (S_(in)) routed to the smart cardapplication host (34) or a demodulated communication traffic signal(U_(in)) routed to the terminal interface (32), the smart card router(33) determining the routing based on information conveyed by the RFcommunication signal (RF in air).
 2. A mobile cellular terminal as inclaim 1, wherein the smart card application host (34) is selected fromthe group consisting of a contact smart card, a microcontroller residingin the mobile cellular terminal (30), and a security component of themobile cellular terminal (30).
 3. A mobile cellular terminal as in claim1, further characterized in that the smart card router (33) is alsoresponsive to unmodulated communication traffic (S_(out)) provided bythe smart card application host (34) and is responsive to unmodulatedcommunication traffic (U_(out)) provided by the terminal interface (32),and in response to either provides a modulated communication trafficsignal (RF in air) for transmission to the contactless smart card reader(35).
 4. A mobile cellular terminal as in claim 3, wherein the smartcard router (33) comprises a card access module and router (33 a), amodulator/demodulator (33 b), an RF antenna (33 c), and a card readerchip (33 d), wherein the card access module and router (33 a) is coupledto the smart card application host (34) via the card reader chip (33 d)and is coupled to the terminal interface (32) and is also coupled to theRF antenna (33 c) via the modulator/demodulator (33 b), the RF antenna(33 c) in turn being radiatively coupled to the contactless smart cardreader (35).
 5. A mobile cellular terminal as in claim 1, furthercharacterized in that the smart card router (33) provides logicalchannels (Ch1 Ch2) for communication with different applications (34-134-2) hosted by the smart card application host (34).
 6. A mobilecellular terminal as in claim 1, further characterized in that instarting communications with the contactless smart card reader (35), themobile cellular terminal reports RF parameter messages in a formatunderstandable to the contactless smart card reader (35) so as to enablethe communications.
 7. A mobile cellular terminal as in claim 6, whereinthe RF parameters so reported indicate proprietary capabilities of thesmart card application host (34).
 8. A mobile cellular terminal as inclaim 6, wherein the RF parameters are derived from data provided by ananswer-to-reset message issued by the smart card application host (34).9. A method for use by a mobile cellular terminal including cellulartelephone functionality in communicating with a contactless smart cardreader (35), the mobile cellular terminal configured for communicationvia a cellular communication network and including a smart cardapplication host hosting at least one smart card application (34-134-2), the method characterized by: a step (61) of receiving from thecontactless smart card reader (35) a radiofrequency (RF) communicationsignal pertinent to the at least one smart card application; a step (62)of examining so as to determine where to route the receivedcommunication signal including possibly routing the communication signalto the at least one smart card application (34-1 34-2) or to a terminalinterface of the mobile cellular terminal or to an RF antenna (33 c) forradiative transmission to a system (31 a 31 b) related to the at leastone smart card application; and a step (63) of routing the communicationsignal to the destination so determined.
 10. A method as in claim 9,wherein the smart card application host (34) is selected from the groupconsisting of a contact smart card, a microcontroller residing in themobile cellular terminal, and a security component of the mobilecellular terminal.
 11. A method as in claim 9, further characterized inthat in routing the communication signal, logical channels (Ch1 Ch2) areused for communication with different applications (34-1 34-2) hosted bythe smart card application host (34).
 12. A method as in claim 9,further characterized in that in starting communications with thecontactless smart card reader (35), the mobile cellular terminal reportsRF parameter messages in a format understandable to the contactlesssmart card reader (35) so as to enable the communications.
 13. A methodas in claim 12, wherein the RF parameters so reported indicateproprietary capabilities of the smart card application host (34).
 14. Amethod as in claim 12, wherein the RF parameters are derived from dataprovided by an answer-to-reset message issued by the smart cardapplication host (34).
 15. A smart card router module (33), for use as acomponent of a mobile cellular terminal including a cellular telephonefunctionality for communication via a cellular communication network andhaving a terminal interface (32), characterized in that the smart cardrouter module (33) is responsive to a radiofrequency (RF) communicationsignal (RF in air) issuing from a contactless smart card reader (35),for demodulating the RF communication signal (RF in air) and providingeither a demodulated communication traffic signal (S_(in)) routed to thesmart card application host (34) or a demodulated communication trafficsignal (U_(in)) routed to the terminal interface (32), the smart cardrouter module (33) determining the routing based on information conveyedby the RF communication signal (RF in air).
 16. A computer programproduct comprising a computer readable storage structure embodyingcomputer program code thereon for execution by a computer processorhosted by a mobile cellular terminal, wherein said computer program codecomprises instructions for performing a method including: a step (61) ofreceiving from a contactless smart card reader (35) a radiofrequency(RF) communication signal pertinent to at least one smart cardapplication hosted by the mobile cellular terminal; a step (62) ofexamining the received communication signal so as to determine where toroute the received communication signal, including possibly routing thecommunication signal to the at least one smart card application or to aterminal interface of the mobile cellular terminal or to an RF antenna(33 c) of the mobile cellular terminal for radiative transmission to asystem (31 a 31 b) related to the at least one smart card application;and a step (63) of routing the communication signal to the destinationso determined.